Paseban Sena

Our rating:

Smack in the heart of Probolinggo’s main drag, 350 meters from the train station, grand colonial style Paseban Sena is our top pick for folks after something a little more comfortable than a basic guesthouse.

This classic Indonesian-style midrange hotel markets itself as a conference and wedding venue and offers comfortable spacious rooms, some large enough to polish your dance steps before making a fool of yourself in the ballroom. Rooms are set well back from the busy road in a double-storey building behind the restaurant and ballroom. The decor is a tad dated, but not so to offend.

A step up in standards. Photo: Sally Arnold

Classic style tiled air-con rooms feature wooden furnishings including comfortable beds with quality linens, and bedside tables, wardrobes, seating and desks. Cable TV, tea-making facilities and minibars are all standard. Roomy marble ensuite bathrooms provide glass-screened hot-water showers and modern amenities. They are clean enough, but could do with a scrub in the corners. Hairdryers and basic toiletries are supplied, but nothing too fancy.

The main distinction between room categories here is size with the Deluxe and Executive rooms scoring almost twice the amount of real estate as the Superior rooms. The Executive rooms occupy ground floor positions and enjoy a rather delightful small leafy private courtyard garden behind the bathroom which staff informed us was perfect for men to smoke (smoke? men only?). Deluxe rooms, above on the second floor are similarly sized with a small private balcony overlooking the gardens of the Executive rooms below, but designed in a way that both retain their privacy (although you may be inundated with wafting smoke).

Ok, perhaps indoor cricket would be a struggle, but the rooms are spacious. Photo: Sally Arnold

Breakfast is included, served buffet style in the restaurant, except during Ramadan when you will be served in your room. We love the vast colonial-style restaurant, with grand arches, original floor tiles and antique furnishings—worth stopping by to admire the architecture even if you’re not staying. The menu is in English and offers Indonesian and Western standards at moderate prices.

Reception staff at Paseban Sena have passable English, but our welcome was rather brisk, other staff, although their English, was limited were much more friendly. We like the somewhat formal Colonial style at Paseban Sena, and the large rooms could easily accommodate a couple of extra beds for a family, the only downside is that unfortunately they don’t have a swimming pool—the only hotel that we found in the city centre offering a pool was not particularly clean and we wouldn’t recommend a swim.

If you prefer a modern midrange, towering multi-storey Bromo Park Hotel offers a business style alternative with some rooms enjoying good city views, but many with internal views only.